#tejasfarm

Today's prompt for #marchmeetthemaker is 'portrait'. So I'm just gonna leave this here. A portrait of a duck. The ducks are all settling in, being friends, I'm happy to say. We had the two females and introduced a female and male pair. And sometimes daily I'm now getting three eggs which is exciting. Soon I'll test to see if they're fertile and you know what that means ⏭️ wee baby duckies!! Hope you all have a quacking great day! #tejasfarm (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMR06D0gtoc/?igshid=1rvgzoulj4s63

Today's thought for #marchmeetthemaker is called 'Learning Curve'. I feel like new experiences are constantly happening and I am constantly learning. Every day there's a new lesson to learn. My biggest learning curve of the past year was raising honey bees. We used some of the beeswax and honey in our soaps and balms! It was so fascinating to sit and watch them. Especially in springtime when there are tons of opportunities for them to get food. They all have an individual role and take care of growing the colony. In a hive there is one queen. I had mine dotted with paint so I could easily spot her. A blue dot means a 2020 Queen. Her job is to lay eggs all day and the surrounding bees ensure all her (and the hive) needs are met. Do you know when you first see the dandelions come out in your yard, that is the first opportunity to feed the pollinators?? Please don't mow them. Please don't poison them. Just know that you are helping to feed the world by leaving them there! Helping the world and you don't even have to do anything! 🐞🌏💚🌎🦋🌍🐝 #tejasfarm (at Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMMsFhvAYw4/?igshid=1lb69ton5ofib

Today's post for #marchmeetthemaker is 'Work in Process'. I mean, isn't that everyday? We've had an exhausting weekend between a truck, chickens, turkeys and doggies (all separate issues, not a combination of...). At least the ducks are behaving. One of my favorite soap ingredients is beer. The sugars help build a better lather when it gets sudsy. This is the latest version, from a brewery right down the road that uses Maryland grown grains! The pictured soap was actually made with a stout because I like using a dark beer for color. But I loved this beer, the first sip of this English style bitter made me think I was sitting in an English pub, like maybe we could travel again, take a vacation, visit family, and maybe have a pint by the fire in a centuries-old public house (that's what pub is short for!) with a lovely Sunday dinner - Roast Beef (from a local farm) and Yorkshire pudding with lotsa veggies and roast potatoes and mashed potatoes, smothered in gravy. Anyway that's my dream. #wearamaskpeople This soap will be available later in the month. No added fragrance, just the faint scent of barley and a lovely and luscious lather to wash away those winter woes. Will be available soooooon! And will be in the next Goodie Bag Subscription! Happy Monday y'all. #tejasfarm (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMKHOgig2XQ/?igshid=1w0uj3bz3lnrq

Day 5 of #marchmeetthemaker is Newest Make. This is the newest cured make! Did you know after a soap is created it needs to cure? Once saponification occurs which is the chemical process of constantly stirring sodium hydroxide (AKA lye, NaOH, caustic soda) with a fat (oils or lard/tallow) and liquid (water/milk/tea), it goes through a heating up phase and after a couple days, the soap can be used but it is generally a bit soft. All soap contains lye. I remember my grandma when I was little pointing at something on the counter and saying THAT'S LYE SOAP! DON'T TOUCH IT! So in my head I thought, why would you even have it? I still don't actually know what it was and probably neither did she. 😂 Back in the day (and today I guess), lye could be derived from wood ash. I haven't tried this, but if you mix hardwood ash with rainwater by boiling and straining and stuff, the leftover product is potassium (KOH) hydroxide, the other form of lye used in soapmaking, but results in a softer soap than NaOH. A mixture of these two types of lye produces a perfect consistency for our shaving soap! Anywho. Allowing it 30 days (or longer) to dehydrate a bit means the bar has a chance to harden and will last for a longer time once it gets wet. On that same note, ensuring your soap is allowed to dry in between uses means you get to keep it for longer. So keep it dry, y'all! We’re ready for spring around here, this soap, 'Spring Showers' is inspired by a spring garden and blooms that should start soooooon! There is a springtime floral fragrance immersed with the goodness of cocoa butter and olive oil infused with comfrey. Ducks are also excited about spring and the rain that it brings, because ducks love water, and so we have wee little duckies (shapes) embedded in this soap, which also include a duck egg yolk, providing a boost to the lather. Ingredients: Comfrey infused Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Coffee, Sodium Hydroxide, Cocoa Butter, Apricot Oil, Castor Oil, French Pink Clay, Kaolin Clay, Fragrance, Hemp Oil, Duck Egg, Hemp Protein, Titanium Dioxide, Essential Oils, Dried Tejas Farm Flowers (calendula, lavender, roses) #tejasfarm (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMCaMwNgnBx/?igshid=agk2ptw9z9vi

Hi! I'm Elizabeth and this my lil Rooster friend. As part of the #marchmeetthemaker2021 we're gonna tell you a bit about our brand, Tejas Farm. About 4 years ago, we thought it would be fun to take on a new adventure, my husband Matt & I moved alllll our stuff and dogs across the country from Central Texas to Southern Pennsylvania for a job offer he received. We found (after many months) a nice plot of land with a log cabin, surrounded by trees. Within the year, we got our first coop and chickens. I made my first ever sourdough starter and bread. Yadda yadda yadda, I couldn't find meaningful work in my accounting field, I took some math (Trig!) and science (Chemistry!) courses at our community college, got excited to produce more of our own stuff. We started canning and preserving things. We expanded gardens and built new ones. Using some of these herbs and produce, I began creating soaps. Started by sharing with family and friends and then was encouraged to do more. So here I am, using my business background to build a website, focus on marketing, learn social media analytics, establish my brand, and create a product I am proud of while trying to support other small businesses, minimize waste and plastic usage, and create relationships with like-minded people. Long story short, I'm trying to leave the earth a better place than when I found it. ♻️ #tejasfarm (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CL7XLI9A7g7/?igshid=12j48byklvqkf

Ducks vs. chickens. Ducks lay an egg where they are. In their bedding, in a bush, on the ground, in a pond, whatever. This one was in their bedding and relatively clean, thankfully. Chickens plan their egg laying, they go to a nest box, hang out a bit, lay an egg, it's usually clean, they make some noise to announce their accomplishment. Ducks need enough water to dunk their whole head for grooming. Chickens are not fans of being wet. Ducks need water to eat, they take a few bites and swallow with water to get it down, making their water bowls very messy. Chickens just pick through their food making a mess all over the place, but not in the water bowl. Ducks have a penis, chickens do not. Male ducks are called drakes, male chickens are called roosters. Females of both are called hens. Ducks (pekins) will trample your garden, but otherwise are quite gentle. Chickens will rip apart your garden in 5 seconds and annihilate any mulch and bedding, spreading it to all corners of the earth. Anywho, I like having both. (And I guess I like having turkeys, because I do...) What's your favorite? #tejasfarm (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLzBbz7AijF/?igshid=mnknlwruua1c

G'mornin y'all! Loving some sunflare over here. Happy Friday 🥳 #tejasfarm #turkeybarley (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLwfIp-gXzo/?igshid=1b69fbodwf9kf

Every single everything is covered in snow after a morning squall. Sideways snow. I've checked on the chickens, they have fresh water, just gotta wait a little while for it end and then go dig them all out. Weekend orders will be a bit delayed...ain't no mail running today! Also, my little peas and oats are sprouting, to add some greens to the fowl afternoon snacks. This 12" jar had about 2" of seeds that I soaked for 24 hours, then drained and I rinse them once a day for about a week now. This is also a fun way to do some seed starting before I can actually do some seed starting. I need to see some green before I go bonkers. #tejasfarm (at York County, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLmhLXugEbm/?igshid=s5zdkzy034ie